[nagdu] Introducing myself

[debby phillips]

HI Nicole, Neena is a Golden Retriever.  Well, I'm not an 
instructor, so take anything I say with a grain of salt regarding 
getting rid of undesired behavior.  One thing I'm trying with 
Neena when she tries to chew something that I don't want her to 
chew on, like the charger to my Apex.  I tell her no, letting her 
know verbally that I do not approve of that behavior.  Then I 
give her her bone or some other toy and praise her for chewing 
that.  It doesn't always work, but I'm trying that.  Of course, 
there is always the leash correction, but I try verbal 
corrections first, however she is a little girl with a mind of 
her own sometimes.  I remember in class, we talked about a ladder 
of corrections-you know, especially for distractions, leave it, 
then the word we use, pfui, then a light leash correction, and so 
forth.  The thing that I always have to remember is that first 
and foremost, these are dogs.  They have certain instinctual 
behaviors and our job is to suppress those, to an extent.  If we 
don't, then they are no good to us as guides, and we might as 
well save the bother of training and just get a pet.  Well, I 
need to go, I have a Braille student coming in about five 
minutes, and I need to get stuff ready to go.    Debby